“I get rice free from the government of Karnataka under the Annabhagya scheme. But, to carry it home, I need to spend ₹600 on an autorickshaw,” says Sunitha, a resident of Bhalekadi, a village in Kere gram panchayat of Sringeri taluk in Chikkamagaluru district. This statement of Sunitha, who is from a tribal community (Gowdlu/Malekudiya), sums up the hardship faced every day by residents of Bhalekadi, which is surrounded by the Kudremukh National Park.
Lack of basic amenities, coupled with diseases bringing down yield in arecanut farms, have prompted the villag
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